Back in the late 80s it was the staple choice for teen sleepovers and 30 years on Dirty Dancing is still a favourite among each generation.

Its transformation from iconic movie to stage show has been delighting audiences across the country and tonight, the Grimsby Auditorium hosts the show for a five night run. Such is the clamour to see the show, more than 6,000 tickets have already been sold.

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Claire Williams, general manager said: "It's the highest grossing show to date which is wonderful for the area. It's bringing a lot of people from outside of the area. It should be a lovely atmosphere, I'm looking forward to it."

The show also features a live 'Kellerman's Band' - an orchestra, as opposed to pre-recorded music which will really bring the show to life.

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Katie Eccles who plays Frances 'Baby' Houseman is the newest cast member and she said: "It's so much fun! This is my first big job, it's been good. I have been working towards it for what feel like an eternity.

"Acting is not my first thing, I'm more of a dancer but getting to work with Lewis and Carlie, I'm really lucky. Everyone is so friendly and nice. I go out of my comfort zone."

The Coventry-born girl has never been to the area before and having only arrived yesterday she's only had a little look around. She says her favourite element of the show is the choreography for the 'Time Of My Life' and loves the reactions they have been having from the audiences.

The part of Johnny Castle is played by Lewis Griffiths, who joined the show last July. The Southend chap celebrates his 32nd birthday this week so has a fun time ahead.

He said: "I'm an actor, I can dance and I like to sing and I'm more of a singer than a dancer. They wanted to drive the story more between Johnny and Baby, so that it's not just flamboyant dancing so they cast actors. I was massively out of my comfort zone."

He says his favourite part is the iconic entrance where he breaks up the end of season show and delivers one of the show's most iconic and immortal lines.

"This is much more than theatre, it's very faithful to the movie, you don't have Dirty Dancing without Baby in the corner, the lift and watermelons!" he added.

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Lewis has already been told to sample the area's most popular dish of fish and chips and admitted that being from Essex he's more used to eating cod over haddock. Although he did cheekily say: "I'm more of a battered sausage kind of guy!"

Carlie Milner joined the show in 2014, as an understudy for the part of Penny so jumped at the chance to take centre stage in the role full time when the show was given a major revamp.

The cast having the time of their lives during rehearsals (Image: Rick Byrne / Grimsby Telegraph)

The Sheffield-born Carlie, 30, says she was told by her mum that she has visited Grimsby before but can only remember Cleethorpes. She said of the show: "There are so many key moments, there's the mambo scene with Johnny (Lewis) - you really see us properly, it's our big dance together.

"And 'Hungry Eyes', the choreography, it's lovely; the montage of Baby learning to dance. It's very faithful scene for scene. They've added a few bits to make it more stylish and juicier and added a few more (new) songs.

"There are scenes that come from the writer, it's trying to do what she wants."